TRINITY'S 4th annual icing challenge

[Rookie]

Hmmmm, I think the rest of us were/ are pretty mishap free! I guess we need to keep a closer eye on you ! Lmaf

[Hydro]

Most of the problems are due to gear freezing up while sitting on the ice after a dive...99% solved with hot water or a heated tent.

[Rookie]

I bet I am going to pay for that one! Lol

[Terry]

Ya Popo, that sounds like some bad luck, you been hanging with Molly or what? The only thing that ever happened to me was I got hooked by a couple fishermen out on Waconia, I tried to save their line and it became kind of a big deal. Hell a couple weeks ago I got hooked AGAIN (on Waconia), this time by a 12 year old, so I just busted his line, and nobody even knew about it.

[popolarbear]

ok gang. then might i add.

10) a story of three men in red. all swearing they got the best suit on the block. now two years later both new suits have been in to factory twice and are more a wet suit than anything else. all leaking like no tomorrow. for as cold as it has been, you cant just change your drysuit insulation after every dive. the one suit is covered in patches! but its not holes in the suit, its the seams coming apart!

11) rib man returns. my personal fav screw up of the year. 4 ribs broken . again i will leave this story at that.solution im not sure what it is.im just happy it wasn't me with 4 ribs broken.

12)last weekend one had a high pressure hose burst. another had cracked hose.
13)leak in drysuit deflation valve. (actually sand in it from mucking). solution clean out in sink.
14) and just to be fair to all. just after i had listened to the pros of dry glove ring system. and that i should switch. i watched one of us, come back to hole quickly with leak in one hand, the insulation stuck in the ring slightly. next dive the same thing happened on other glove side! two for two! fortunately its warm now.

[Rookie]

That's why I am a big advocate of 3 finger gloves. Hands Are always toasty ! No leaks! I put them on and take them off by myself! Oh, and their black color coordinates with my dry suit to make me very stylish! Lmao!!! Cheers

[scubafreek864]

Pretty much all the mishaps you mentioned are easily preventable.

Taking care of your equipment is the biggest one.

Blaming someone else for you backing into the heater is a joke, right? You need to be aware of your surroundings, i.e. the heater.

Cleaning and drying out gear after diving is a must. I do this every weekend after diving, and have not yet had any free flows, frozen valves.

If you count freezing up in between dive sites on the same day, I have had ONE inflator valve freeze.

I have not one complaint about my viking drysuit. I bought it knowing that I can easily fix any leak that would happen with a tire patch. I have no problem with patches on my suit. I am not in a fashion show. I got a great deal on that suit, and don't give a rats ass how it looks after diving it for so long.

I have had the insulation get caught in the dry glove of mine a couple times. I am going to blame myself for that one. too much of in a hurry to dive. Taking time while putting on the gloves is now standard practice for me.

Dry gloves are still the way to go. Doesn't matter what kind you choose. It is personal preference. I like the ones I have. If I had gotten the viking style, I would probably like those too.

[DetectorGuy]

I've done some dumb things in the past and I will do some dumb things in the future... That's just reality.
One time I thought I was disconnected for a bit while diving with Arcflash. The viz was about 10' & I found this old boat on the bottom. I needed to go back to the hole and get my camera. I went back and had Steve tell me the direction and distance I was from the hole so I could find my way back to it. We had walked out to the dive area as the ice was marginal for driving and my camera was in the Jeep at the access. I walked back to get it, and just drove the Jeep back to the hole to save time. My camera was mounted to a big UK D8 dive light with an aluminum bracket that had a couple rare earth magnets in the bracket. Steve told me the boat was S/SE at 75' out. I jumped in the hole and followed my compass that direction for 25 fin strokes and couldn't see the boat. My safety rope was perpendicular to my body, and not straight behind me like it should have been. I figured out quickly that the magnets in the brackets were pulling the compass out of whack. I swam for 15 minutes and finally found the boat again. I was swimming around the upright boat a couple times taking lots of dark grainy video when I felt creeped out. I looked around me and above me and I could not see the 1/2" yellow safety rope any where, I felt around my waist and could not feel it. I had about 800 PSI left and remembered that I was 75' S/SE from the hole. I also remembered that my compass was off because of the magnets, but It never occurred to me to drop the dive light / camera with the magnetic mount. As I started to go to the ice sheet and wait for Steve to come get me with the longer safety rope, something held me down. My safety line was still attached, and it ran down my side and was wrapped around the bottom of the boats hull (just out of view). I unwrapped the safety line and swam back to the hole.

[popolarbear]

15)thank you detectorguy, interesting story to share. thanks. that should fall under line separation and tangled into structure. unlike my incident where i was wrapped at surface, you were at depth. very interesting.I like the calm response that he had planned on waiting under the ice for recovery. this is key in any emergency to remain calm. thanks


yes preventable, but im interested in tracking for study purpose and how to deal with when they occur.any more. come on guys.

[popolarbear]

16) tore off auger cutting blade off, and reverse twisted secondary spiral blade, in effort to cut a dive hole using just auger.
solution, don't over cut holes, each cut should be in virgin ice only. then use
hand saw or spud to clean up.
-reweld, resharpen blade, repaint, and rework secondary blade.now cuts faster than original.